Chapter XXVIII.—The Heathen Gods Were Simply Men.

But it is perhaps necessary, in accordance with what has already been adduced, to say a little about their names. Herodotus, then, and Alexander the son of Philip, in his letter to his mother (and each of them is said to have conversed with the priests at Heliopolis, and Memphis, and Thebes), affirm that they learnt from them that the gods had been men. Herodotus speaks thus: “Of such a nature were, they said, the beings represented by these images, they were very far indeed from being gods. However, in the times anterior to them it was otherwise; then Egypt had gods for its rulers, who dwelt upon the earth with men, one being always supreme above the rest. The last of these was Horus the son of Osiris, called by the Greeks Apollo. He deposed Typhon, and ruled over Egypt as its last god-king. Osiris is named Dionysus (Bacchus) by the Greeks.”104    ii. 144. Mr. Rawlinson’s translation is used in the extracts from Herodotus. “Almost all the names of the gods came into Greece from Egypt.”105    ii. 50. Apollo was the son of Dionysus and Isis, as Herodotus likewise affirms: “According to the Egyptians, Apollo and Diana are the children of Bacchus and Isis; while Latona is their nurse and their preserver.”106    ii. 156. These beings of heavenly origin they had for their first kings: partly from ignorance of the true worship of the Deity, partly from gratitude for their government, they esteemed them as gods together with their wives. “The male kine, if clean, and the male calves, are used for sacrifice by the Egyptians universally; but the females, they are not allowed to sacrifice, since they are sacred to Isis. The statue of this goddess has the form of a woman but with horns like a cow, resembling those of the Greek representations of Io.”107    ii. 41. And who can be more deserving of credit in making these statements, than those who in family succession son from father, received not only the priesthood, but also the history? For it is not likely that the priests, who make it their business to commend the idols to men’s reverence, would assert falsely that they were men. If Herodotus alone had said that the Egyptians spoke in their histories of the gods as of men, when he says, “What they told me concerning their religion it is not my intention to repeat, except only the names of their deities, things of very trifling importance,”108    ii. 3. The text is here uncertain, and differs from that of Herodotus. [Herodotus, initiated in Egyptian mysteries, was doubtless sworn to maintain certain secrets of the priests of Osiris.] it would behove us not to credit even Herodotus as being a fabulist. But as Alexander and Hermes surnamed Trismegistus, who shares with them in the attribute of eternity, and innumerable others, not to name them individually, [declare the same], no room is left even for doubt that they, being kings, were esteemed gods. That they were men, the most learned of the Egyptians also testify, who, while saying that ether, earth, sun, moon, are gods, regard the rest as mortal men, and the temples as their sepulchres. Apollodorus, too, asserts the same thing in his treatise concerning the gods. But Herodotus calls even their sufferings mysteries. “The ceremonies at the feast of Isis in the city of Busiris have been already spoken of. It is there that the whole multitude, both of men and women, many thousands in number, beat themselves at the close of the sacrifice in honour of a god whose name a religious scruple forbids me to mention.”109    ii. 61. [The name of Osiris.] If they are gods, they are also immortal; but if people are beaten for them, and their sufferings are mysteries, they are men, as Herodotus himself says: “Here, too, in this same precinct of Minerva at Saïs, is the burial-place of one whom I think it not right to mention in such a connection. It stands behind the temple against the back wall, which it entirely covers. There are also some large stone obelisks in the enclosure, and there is a lake near them, adorned with an edging of stone. In form it is circular, and in size, as it seemed to me, about equal to the lake at Delos called the Hoop. On this lake it is that the Egyptians represent by night his sufferings whose name I refrain from mentioning, and this representation they call their mysteries.”110    ii. 170. And not only is the sepulchre of Osiris shown, but also his embalming: “When a body is brought to them, they show the bearer various models of corpses made in wood, and painted so as to resemble nature. The most perfect is said to be after the manner of him whom I do not think it religious to name in connection with such a matter.”111    ii. 86.

Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ἴσως κατὰ τὰ προειρημένα περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων ὀλίγα εἰπεῖν. Ἡρόδοτος μὲν οὖν καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ τοῦ Φιλίππου ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα ἐπιστολῇ (ἑκάτεροι δὲ ἐν τῇ Ἡλιουπόλει καὶ ἐν Μέμφιδι καὶ Θήβαις εἰς λόγους τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἀφῖχθαι λέγονται) φασὶ παρ' ἐκείνων ἀνθρώπους αὐτοὺς γενέσθαι μαθεῖν. Ἡρό δοτος· “ἤδη ὦν τῶν αἱ εἰκόνες ἦσαν, τοιούτους ἀπεδείκνυσάν σφεας [αὐτοὺς] ἐόντας, θεῶν δὲ πολλὸν ἀπηλλαγμένους. τὸ δὲ πρότερον τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων θεοὺς εἶναι τοὺς ἐν Aἰγύπτῳ ἄρχοντας, οἰκέον τας ἅμα τοῖς ἀνθρώποισιν, καὶ τούτων ἀεὶ ἕνα τὸν κρατέοντα εἶναι· ὕστερον δὲ αὐτῆς βασιλεῦσαι Ὧρον τὸν Ὀσίρεως παῖδα, τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα Ἕλληνες ὀνομάζουσιν· τοῦτον καταπαύσαντα Τυφῶνα βασιλεῦσαι ὕστατον Aἰγύπτου. Ὄσιρις δέ ἐστι ∆ιόνυσος κατὰ Ἑλλάδα γλῶσσαν.” οἵ τε οὖν ἄλλοι καὶ τελευταῖος βασιλεῖς Aἰγύπτου· παρὰ δὲ τούτων εἰς Ἕλληνας ἦλθε τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν θεῶν. Ἀπόλλων ὁ ∆ιονύσου καὶ Ἴσιδος· ὁ αὐτὸς Ἡρόδοτος· “Ἀπόλλωνα δὲ καὶ Ἄρτεμιν ∆ιονύσου καὶ Ἴσιδος λέγουσιν εἶναι παῖδας, Λητὼ δὲ τροφὸν αὐτοῖσ[ι καὶ] σώτειραν γενέσθαι.” οὓς οὐρανίους γεγονότας πρώτους βασιλέας ἔσχον, πῃ μὲν ἀγνοίᾳ τῆς ἀληθοῦς περὶ τὸ θεῖον εὐσεβείας, πῃ δὲ χάριτι τῆς ἀρχῆς θεοὺς ὁμοῦ ταῖς γυναιξὶν αὐτῶν ἦγον. “τοὺς μέν νυν καθαροὺς βοῦς τοὺς ἔρσενας καὶ τοὺς μόσχους οἱ πάντες Aἰγύπτιοι θύουσι, τὰς δὲ θηλείας οὔ σφιν ἔξεστι θύειν, ἀλλὰ ἱραί εἰσι τῆς Ἴσιδος· [τὸ γὰρ τῆς Ἴσιδος] ἄγαλμα ἐὸν γυναικήιον βούκερών ἐστι, καθάπερ οἱ Ἕλληνες τὴν Ἰοῦν γράφουσιν”. τίνες δ' ἂν μᾶλλον ταῦτα πιστευθεῖεν λέγοντες ἢ οἱ κατὰ διαδοχὴν γένους παῖς παρὰ πατρός, ὡς τὴν ἱερωσύνην καὶ τὴν ἱστορίαν διαδεχόμενοι; οὐ γὰρ τοὺς σεμνοποιοῦντας ζακόρους τὰ εἴδωλα εἰκὸς ἀνθρώπους αὐτοὺς γενέσθαι ψεύδεσθαι. εἰ τοίνυν Ἡρόδοτος ἔλεγεν περὶ τῶν θεῶν ὡς περὶ ἀνθρώπων ἱστορεῖν Aἰγυπτίους, καὶ λέγοντι τῷ Ἡροδότῳ “τὰ μέν νυν θεῖα τῶν ἀφηγημάτων, οἷα ἤκουον, οὐκ εἰμὶ πρόθυμος διηγεῖσθαι, ἔξω ἢ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτέων μοῦνα” ἐλάχιστα μὴ πιστεύειν ὡς μυθοποιῷ ἔδει· ἐπεὶ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος καὶ Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος ἐπικαλούμενος συνάπτων τὸ ἴδιον αὐτοῖς γένος καὶ ἄλλοι μυρίοι, ἵνα μὴ καθ' ἕκαστον καταλέγοιμι, οὐδὲ λόγος ἔτι καταλείπεται βασιλεῖς ὄντας αὐτοὺς μὴ νενομίσθαι θεούς. καὶ ὅτι μὲν ἄνθρωποι, δηλοῦσιν μὲν καὶ Aἰγυπτίων οἱ λογιώτατοι, οἳ θεοὺς λέγοντες αἰθέρα, γῆν, ἥλιον, σελήνην, τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους θνητοὺς νομίζουσιν καὶ ἱερὰ τοὺς τάφους αὐτῶν· δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τῷ περὶ θεῶν. Ἡρόδοτος δὲ καὶ τὰ παθήματα αὐτῶν φησι μυστήρια· “ἐν δὲ Βουσίρι πόλει ὡς ἀνάγουσι τῇ Ἴσι τὴν ἑορτήν, εἴρηται πρότερόν μοι. τύπτονται γὰρ δὴ μετὰ τὴν θυσίην πάντες καὶ πᾶσαι, μυριάδες κάρτα πολλαὶ ἀνθρώπων. τὸν δὲ τύπτονται τρόπον, οὔ μοι ὅσιόν ἐστιν λέγειν.” εἰ θεοί, καὶ ἀθάνατοι, εἰ δὲ τύπτονται καὶ τὰ πάθη ἐστὶν αὐτῶν μυστήρια, ἄνθρωποι. ὁ αὐτὸς Ἡρόδοτος· “εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ αἱ ταφαὶ τοῦ οὐχ ὅσιον ποιοῦμαι ἐπὶ τοιούτῳ πράγματι ἐξαγορεύειν τὸ ὄνομα, ἐν Σάι ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς Ἀθηναίης, ὄπισθεν τοῦ νηοῦ, παντὸς τῆς Ἀθηναίης ἐχόμενον τοίχου. λίμνη δ' ἐστὶν ἐχομένη λιθίνῃ κρηπῖδι κεκοσμημένη ἐν κύκλῳ, μέγεθος, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκέει, ὅση περ ἐν ∆ήλῳ ἡ τροχοειδὴς καλεομένη. ἐν δὲ τῇ λίμνῃ ταύτῃ τὰ δείκηλα τῶν παθέων αὐτοῦ νυκτὸς [ποιοῦσι τὰ] καλέουσι μυστήρια Aἰγύπτιοι”. καὶ οὐ μόνον ὁ τάφος τοῦ Ὀσίριδος δείκνυται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταριχεία· “ἐπεάν σφισιν κομισθῇ νεκρός, δεικνύασι τοῖσι κομίσασι παραδείγματα νεκρῶν ξύλινα τῇ γραφῇ μεμιμημένα· καὶ τὴν μὲν σπουδαιοτάτην αὐτέων φασὶν εἶναι τοῦ οὐχ ὅσιον ποιοῦμαι οὔνομα ἐπὶ τοιούτῳ πράγματι ὀνομάζειν.”